Mar 5, 2016

Teenage boys are requiring surgery after being raped in the Calais Jungle and thousands of migrant orphans are vulnerable to abuse, campaigners claimed today.

Seven boys, between 14 and 16, have reportedly been treated by medical volunteers after being sexually assaulted in the past six months.

Now campaigners are worried about the lack of child protection inside the refugee camp, which is home to 3,800 people.

A volunteer told The Independent: ‘If I took one of the boys to the police and said “I’m one of the medics and I know this boy has been sexually abused”, I could guarantee they would shrug their shoulders and continue their conversation.

‘These boys would have left their homes and their parents would have thought they were safe and that they were going to a better life, fleeing violence and they end up at 14 being raped in a refugee camp. That it is going on in Europe makes it even more unacceptable.’

Europol estimated at the start of the year that 10,000 unaccompanied children had gone missing in Europe.